Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:51:06.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Estimating the Benefits of Regionalizing Emergency Medical Service Provision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

James M. Wilson
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Development Research Institute
Daniel J. Dudek
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Get access

Abstract

Local area governments have experienced increasingly stringent budget constraints in recent years. Innovations in service delivery provide one avenue for increasing the effectiveness of resource allocations. This paper explores the potential savings available from regionalizing emergency medical service provision. A mixed integer programming model incorporating peak demand considerations is used to minimize service cost given a desired maximum response time. Changes in the weighted average response time measure the quality degradation required to attain the savings from cooperative provision. The results indicate that the benefits are substantial but that distribution of these gains is a possible barrier to implementation.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The research reported in this paper was supported by the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development under subcontract no. OSP 2832. This paper has benefited from the comments of P. Geoffrey Allen and two anonymous reviewers. The authors assume complete responsibility for the contents.

References

Bell, Colin E. and Allen, David, “Optimal Planning of an Emergency Ambulance Service,” Socio-Economic Planning Service, 3 (1969):95101.Google Scholar
Daberkow, S. G., “Demand and Location Aspects of Emergency Medical Facilities in Rural Northern California,” , University of California, Davis, 1976.Google Scholar
Daberkow, S. G. and King, G. A., “Demand and Location Aspects of Emergency Medical Facilities in Rural California,” Giannini Foundation Research Report No. 329, University of California, March 1980.Google Scholar
Department of Public Health, “105 CMR 170.000 Regulations for the Implementation of Massachusetts General Laws 111c, Governing Ambulance Services and Coordinating Emergency Medical Care,” October 1982.Google Scholar
Dunlop and Associates, Inc., “Economics of Highway Emergency Ambulance Service,U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety contract FH-11-65451, 1968.Google Scholar
Hakimi, S., “Optimum Locations of Switching Centers and the Absolute Centers and Medians of a Graph,Operations Research, 12 (1962):453–58.Google Scholar
Revelle, C. and Church, R., “The Maximal Covering Location Problem,Papers of the Regional Science Association, 32 (1974):101–14.Google Scholar
Stevenson, K., “Operational Aspects of Emergency Ambulance Services,” Technical Report No. 61, Operations Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, May 1971.Google Scholar
Toregas, C. and Revelle, C., “Optimal Location under Time or Distance Constraints,Papers of the Regional Science Association, 28 (1972):133–42.Google Scholar
Toregas, C., Swain, R., Revelle, C. and Bergman, L., “Location of Emergency Service Facilities,Operations Research, 19 (1971):1361–73.Google Scholar
Willemain, T. R., “The Status of Performance Measures for Emergency Medical Services,Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians, (1975):143–51.Google Scholar
Wilson, James M., “Risk-Benefit Analysis of the Regionalization of Emergency Medical Services,” , Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1985.Google Scholar
Zebrowski, Chuck, Testimony, Public Hearing on 114.3 CMR 27.00 Ambulance Services, Boston, May 5, 1983.Google Scholar